Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Angul town has secured the third spot in the National Clean Air City award under the category of cities with less than three lakh population in the Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025. The results were announced by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on Tuesday.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav presented the awards at the Swachh Vayu Survekshan Awards & Wetland Cities Recognition Ceremony in New Delhi.

Angul, among the 130 urban centres covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), was recognised for significant improvement in air quality through measures such as road infrastructure development and public outreach campaigns. Authorities also attributed the achievement to strict restrictions on polluting truck movement within town limits over the last two years. The award included a cash prize of ₹12.50 lakh.

This is the second recognition for Angul, which earlier bagged the award in 2023. It also remains the only urban centre from Odisha to break into the top three this year.

Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar recorded an improvement in its category (cities with 3–10 lakh population), moving up two spots from rank seven to five. Talcher retained its fourth position in the under three lakh category for the second consecutive year.